1. Inflate their qualifications or lie
on their resume. While a resume
is not a legal document, it should
be an accurate representation of
your experience and
achievements. I advocate for
showing your employment
history in the best possible light,
buy lying is never wise.
2. Forget to proofread their
resume. One of the easiest ways
to show an employer you don’t
pay much attention to details is
to submit a resume with a typo.
Check, double-check, and triple
check your document. Use spell
check and ask a few different
people to proof the resume
before sending it to employers.
3. Send the same generic cover
letter to every employer. The
cover letter is the perfect
opportunity to make a
connection with the employer
and explain how you can help
solve their problems. Don’t go
vanilla here. Tailor your cover
letter to the employer and
position you are applying to.
4. Neglect to research the
company before the interview.
With so much information on the
Internet there is no excuse for
not knowing about the company
you are interviewing with. Use
Vault, Glassdoor, WetFeet, Jigsaw,
and LinkedIn to unearth
important information about the
companies and people you are
interviewing with and don’t
forget to take advantage of the
research resources available at
many public libraries.
5. Ask everyone they know for a
job. Unless you want your
friends and colleagues to stop
returning your calls, don’t just
ask everyone you know for a job.
Instead ask for information
about a company, a person, an
industry, etc. Let your contacts
know you value their knowledge
and insights. Through these
exploratory conversations they
may be able to point you in the
direction of a possible job
opportunity even if they can’t
help you land that job directly.
6. Neglect to send a thank you
letter following an interview.
It’s not just a courtesy. It is an
opportunity to make a second
impression on the person you
just interviewed with and remain
top of mind. Send the thank you
letter within 24 hours of the
interview. A few paragraphs with
a thank you and a recap of why
you are the perfect match for the
job can help keep you on the
hiring manager’s short list.
7. Fail to leverage their network.
Some people feel that reaching
out to their network for contacts
means asking for favors. It
doesn’t. See #5.
8. Snub social media. Imagine
being able to go into the offices
of everyone you know and look
through their Roledex
(remember them). That’s what
social media sites like LinkedIn
and Twitter allow you to do.
9. Complain. It’s easy to blame the
company or the economy for
your job search frustrations. But
it won’t get you a job any faster.
Find a few close confidents you
can vent to and don’t spread
your frustration to others. Keep a
journal to help you chronicle
your search journey and help get
your feelings out.
10. Give up. This is perhaps the
scariest one of all. And there are
a lot of people out there that
have given up. Unemployment
benefits won’t last forever. At
some point you will have to get
back in the game. If you have
dropped out of the race for
several months, getting back in is
much harder. Keep at it. Plan job
search activities every day. You
will be scheduling meetings with
friends and colleagues, doing
Internet research, building your
online network, working on your
resume, practicing your elevator
pitch, etc. There is a lot to do. Job
search is a full-time job. Now’s
not the time to take a vacation.

After wasted years of admission-seeking, strikes and crises, job-hunting, and the likes, some might be "overaged" for certain jobs. Is it right to adjust one's age to suit such jobs specifications?